Siberia is sparsely populated. Why is Russia still building railways?

Trans-Siberian Railway, also known as the First Eurasian Continental Bridge, is a railway network connecting Moscow and the Russian Far East. This line goes directly from Moscow to Vladivostok. With a total length of 9288 kilometers, it is the longest railway in the world. There are feeder lines to Mongolia, China and North Korea. This railway was built by Tsar Alexander III and Crown Prince Nicholas II, later Tsar Nicholas II, from 189 1 to 19 16 under the supervision of the Russian government.

In fact, Russia has long had the idea of building trans-siberian railway, and in the middle of the19th century, the relevant departments of the Russian government have already carried out a lot of research and demonstration work. By the 1950s and 1970s of 19, Russian experts even came up with many design schemes for building railways in Siberia, but none of them received the attention and support of the czar and the government. It was not until 1980s of 19 that the czar made up his mind to build trans-siberian railway.

So, 1890, Tsar Alexander III issued an order and decided to start construction from Vladivostok in the easternmost part. Crown Prince Nicholas personally presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of Vladivostok189/KLOC-0 in May. In addition, Crown Prince Nicholas was appointed as the Chairman of the Special Management Committee of Trans-Siberian Railway. It can be seen that Russian high-level officials attach importance to this project.

However, the difficulty of railway construction is unimaginable, not only facing dense rivers, lakes, mountains and vast frozen soil, but also enduring the severe test of bad weather. Siberia often has a low temperature of MINUS 50℃ in winter and a high temperature of nearly MINUS 40℃ in midsummer. Not only the annual temperature difference is 80-90 degrees, but also the daily temperature difference is 20-30 degrees, which is not only unbearable, but also causes brittle cracking of steel and equipment damage.

In such an extremely harsh environment, the workers had to brave the cold and heat, cut mountains and build bridges, and lay sleepers and rails. Many people died of fatigue. At the same time, high railway construction costs must be paid. Russia's economy is relatively backward, coupled with years of war, so Russia has almost invested the whole country in building railways. According to the data, only in the ten years from 189 1 to 190 1,146 billion rubles were spent, much more than the military expenditure in the same period. After 13 years of hardships, this railway trunk line was opened to traffic in July 13, 1904, and the finishing work took more than ten years, and it was completed in 19 16 years.

Then, when people see this place, they will surely ask, Why did Russia frantically and intensively build this railway near Wan Li?

The first is to solidify and expand the results. As we all know, from the16th century, Russia expanded in Asia and annexed the whole Siberian region. This vast land covers nearly one third of Asia's land area, exceeding120,000 square kilometers, with endless forests and grasslands, fertile soil and rich mineral deposits. But it has been sleeping there for hundreds of years because it is far away from the central European part of Russia. After the end of 16, the czars of past dynasties regarded this time as a place of exile.

However, although Russia's territory is large, most of it is in sparsely populated North Asia. In order to ensure that this vast land is not lost, Russian must develop and construct, so the issue of building trans-siberian railway is put on the agenda. Trans-siberian railway is 9,288 kilometers long, from the Russian capital Moscow to Vladivostok, spanning eight time zones. The completion and opening to traffic has enabled the Russian government to effectively manage and control this sparsely populated area and consolidate the expansion results.

The second is to compete for the interests of the Far East. /kloc-at the end of 0/9, the czar turned his attention to Asia, especially China. At that time, great powers such as Britain, the United States and Japan were fighting fiercely in the Far East, which made Siberia's strategic position prominent. In order to carry out the "Far East policy" of encroaching on Asia, we must first firmly control this land far away from Europe, so we must build a large railway across Siberia.

The construction of trans-siberian railway has indeed profoundly affected the international situation in the Far East. Japan, bent on annexing China and North Korea, felt the pressure of Russian eastward expansion. 189 1 year, the Russians started to build trans-siberian railway, but the Japanese couldn't sleep well. After the railway is completed and opened to traffic, it will be beneficial to the mobility of the Russian army, and Russia's military strength in the Far East will be strengthened. This is what the Japanese don't want to see. To this end, Japan contacted Britain and the United States and other countries to put pressure on Russia in an attempt to trip up railway construction, and the result was in vain.

At the beginning of 1904, the Russo-Japanese war was on the verge. Japan wants to go to war with Russia before the completion of trans-siberian railway, but Russia's military in the Far East is still at a disadvantage. Finally, the Japanese army declared war on February 8. The progress of the war further proved the importance of this railway.

The Japanese army began to defeat the Russian army in succession. Trans-siberian railway was opened to traffic on July 13. Relying on this railway, Russia quickly mobilized a large number of troops from Europe and eventually surpassed the Japanese army. That's why Russia admitted defeat but did not pay compensation.

Practice has proved that the completion of the trans-Siberian railway not only enabled Russia to successfully control the vast Siberia, but also enabled Russia to compete with Britain, France, Japan and the United States for the interests of the Far East and China. This shows the strategic wisdom and foresight of the Russian nation in its aggression and expansion.

The third is to revitalize Siberia. The opening of the Great Railway undoubtedly accelerated the "blood circulation" in Siberia and brought considerable economic benefits to Russia. Let Siberia, which was originally uninhabited, quickly become popular. The biggest change is the rapid growth of population, from less than 3 million to nearly 19 14 years. Relieved the current situation of labor shortage, created many cities along the big railway, and laid the basic position of agricultural and animal husbandry production base. At the same time, road construction also stimulated the local industrial development, and coal mining, wood processing and metallurgy came into being, which stimulated the whole Russian economy.

In a word, from the construction of trans-siberian railway, we can easily see that Russia's strategic foresight not only consolidated the expansion achievements, helped to compete for the interests of the Far East, revitalized Siberia and boosted the Russian economy, but also had great and far-reaching significance in politics, military and economy for the now disintegrated Soviet Union and Russia.